posted on January 13, 2001 07:00:33 PM
I recently bid on and won 2 widgets of the same variety from 2 different sellers. I purchased insurance on both. One was packed very well. One was packed inadequately. Both arrived with damage. I have notified both sellers. Seller of well-packed item wants me to take my item to the PO & do all the paperwork and have the refund issued to me by the USPS. Have not heard from seller #2 yet, but I am positive that the USPS will deny a claim on that one. (I emailed pics to her.)
Here's my question:
As a seller, when your customer receives their insured item from you and informs you that it has damage do you:
a.) Issue refund upon proof that claim has been filed & merchandise turned over to PO.
b.) Make the bidder wait to receive the insurance claim (if approved) from the USPS.
c.) Other.
I have not had this happen to me, but I would be inclined to issue the refund upon some sort of proof that the claim had been filed unless it was an item that could be inexpensively shipped back to me. In that case I would refund (with shipping both ways) upon return of the item to me.
It is not an option to return the second item as it was fairly expensive to ship...I may actually keep the first item--gotta take it in & have a pro look at it to see how much it will cost to fix first & weigh that against the prospect of waiting forever for the insurance claim.
posted on January 13, 2001 07:12:14 PM
I package real well and double box everything so I've had very few items get damaged in the past two years.
Here is what I did when it happened.
I got the insurance form from the post office and filled out the seller's part of it. I printed out the photos of the item that showed it was not damaged. I attached the insurance receipt and the form to the post office form.
Additionally, I make out a check to the customer for the full amount of the purchase plus the charges to the customer for shipping and insurance.
I check off the box on the post office form to indicate that the seller should be refunded.
I mail form, receipt, photos and check to the customer.
I look so good compared to every other seller on eBay that the customer comes back as a regular and buys more from me.
Darcy
[ edited a typo ]
[ edited by darcyw on Jan 13, 2001 07:13 PM ]
posted on January 13, 2001 07:33:16 PM barrelracer
Hmm, I have mandatory insurance on all of my items. Only once in two years did I have a request not to insure an item.
I can tell you what I know other a few other sellers do. They self-insure on the small stuff. If an item sells for five bucks, like a post card, the seller tells the buyer there is a 25 cent insurance fee. I imagine if enough of those quarters added up, when a small item was lost in the mail the seller would have no problem making a full refund.
I've encountered some sellers who self-insure on everything at the post office prices. The sellers make a profit, just like the post office does.
posted on January 13, 2001 07:39:12 PM
Darcy,
I am not questioning your way of doing business. I just wanted to know what the customer had to do so you would get your refund.
posted on January 13, 2001 07:42:27 PM
I've had two cases of damage in shipment, and the bidder has filed in both cases and had the paperwork sent to me for completion, to be paid to the bidder. It seems to me that that's the most expedient, since the recipient has to present the damaged merchandise with the original packaging to the PO for inspection, anyway. Maybe it's my Midwest upbringing, but it's my impression that when one experiences a loss covered by insurance, one makes a claim to the insurance company and receives payment from them. If I had the financial resources for refunding the bidder and then waiting for the post office to pay off, I'd probably do it, but that isn't always the case.
posted on January 13, 2001 07:44:47 PM
To answer debbielennon's question,
I would go for customer satisfaction, with the hope of recovering my losses.
Most of my items ship for a pound, so on an item too expensive to ship back I guess I would try to work with the customer to get their money back. If they helped with the paperwork, I would refund right away.
So it would depend upon how helpful the customer chose to be.
posted on January 13, 2001 08:00:51 PM barrelracer
The few times it has happened, the customer contacted me, I followed the procedures I outlined, the customer filled out their part of the form, took the form and the package to the post office and eventually I received a check from the post office.
I always believe in the best of people. I don't question the customer, I believe what they say. I don't think the customer should be out of pocket the cash expended if an item was damaged during transit, that is why I send a refund check with the paperwork.
To answer your question, then, the customer merely has to contact me and let me know there is a problem. That is all.
As I said previously, I package real well. The few times damage has occurred was a flake caused by temperature or air pressure changes during transit.
My worse story is last year an auction ended at around $300, a covered sauce tureen. The dish arrived with a new age line on the side going through the porcelain. The customer packaged it and sent it back to me without going through the insurance process, thus denying me the insurance refund. I refunded him and merely said he should not have shipped the tureen back to me. He then asked me to sell him the tureen at a lower price. I was polite and said no. I still have that tureen, I plan on giving it to another customer who is buying that pattern and is a loyal, repeat customer.
My best story is a repeat customer won an auction for a 19th century cobalt plate for about $250.00. I double box everything. The customer emailed me, that the box was so damaged the carrier left a notice at his door that he had to go to the post office and open the box up in front of postal authorities. He did. He said the outer box was smashed in on all sides and was wet, like it had fallen off a truck and lay in a snow bank. He opened the outer box and the inner box was crushed a bit too. He opened the inner box and the bubble wrap had protected the plate. There was no damage at all.
You wrote
<<To answer your question, then, the customer merely has to contact me and let me know there is a problem. That is all.>>
No, the question I asked, merely for future reference in case I ever did it was what the customer had to do after you sent them their refund so you would get your money back.
However, from pickersangel's reply I figured it out. Thanks anyway.
posted on January 14, 2001 04:06:34 AM
I haven't had it happen yet, but I would do #2 ... Make the bidder wait to receive the insurance claim (if approved) from the USPS
1. The USPS insists on seeing (and taking) the damaged merchandise. That means the RECIPIENT has to do stuff at their end.
2. The insurance was purchased to protect the buyer's merchandise while it is in the hands of the USPS ... I consider myself out of the transaction, except to handle the paperwork at this end.
If the item was damaged by incredibly bad handling (tire tracks, forklift punctures, corners smashed) I would be as active as needed to get the USPS to pay up for their bad handling.
posted on January 14, 2001 07:28:50 AM
In my case, if seller #2 makes me wait for the refund (if approved) I will surely be out of luck as the packaging was inadequate. Is it not the responsibility of the seller to package an item so that it will withstand normal shipping? Crumpled paper wadded around a large, heavy breakable widget with no inner box is definitely inadequate. If you make the buyer wait for the refund and the claim is denied after making them wait 4-6 weeks, then what? Ultimately wouldn't it be your fault that the packaging was inadequate?
posted on January 14, 2001 07:50:54 AM
debbielennon -
If the packing is inadequate, it's the seller's responsibility. But I tend to overpack, if there is such a concept, because I've seen what happens to packages in transit.
If it were an exceptional item, I would go to the extreme of taking pictures of the packing process and hold them until the item got there. That way the USPS can't claim "inadequate" when I can say "double-boxed, blocked and bubblewrapped".
The USPS I go to will often have recipients open packages on the spot if it's unusually highly insured, shows signs of transit damage, or "rattles" when they handle it. They want to know right then whether it made it into the recipient's hands OK.
posted on January 14, 2001 11:48:08 AM
I think it all boils down to customer service and your own comfort level and financial situation. I don't feel the customer should have to wait for the post office to reimburse them if the damaged item is over $50 because this can take as long as three months. My post office will pay up to $50 of insurance on the spot after examining the package and the damaged item so in this case it makes since for the buyer to take the package to the post office themselves. The seller would need to get the paperwork from the post office, fill out their part specifying that the money is to go to the buyer and then send it along with the ORIGINAL insurance receipt (after making a copy to keep) to the customer.
I, as a seller, have only had one item arrive damaged and it was a very fragile candelabra that had actually been triple boxed with lots of bubble wrap but the package looked like it had been run over by a truck. (my customer sent me a photo) It was insured for $400 and I did the above paperwork routine but stated that the money was to be paid to me and sent it to the buyer along with the original insurance receipt. She took the package and broken item along with the paperwork and receipt to her post office and, as soon as she notified me that this step had been completed, I sent her a refund and I waited for the reimbursement from the post office. [BTW, this took three months.
I try to look at it from the customer's viewpoint and I know their viewpoint because I buy as well as sell. They fulfilled their part of the contract by sending the money and it's up to me to get the item to them in one piece. I don't think the seller's responsibility ends at the post office as long as the package is insured and I require insurance on all of my items since I sell mostly glass and pottery which are fragile and somewhat costly.
I know many sellers don't agree with me but that's the way I run my business.
